Saakashvili presents downsized amnesty bill

Saakashvili presents downsized amnesty bill

TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has vetoed the coming into force of a law on amnesty, and sent his own version of the law to parliament.

Speaker of Parliament Davit Usupashvili on Friday said the legislative body has received the president’s version of the amnesty bill with remarks. He said Saakashvili had removed the articles about political prisoners and several other articles.

“He didn’t sign the law and focuses on the issue of political prisoners,” he said. “The president thinks it impossible that there are political prisoners in democratic Georgia.”

The Georgian parliament will vote for the president’s edited amnesty bill today Friday, but if the majority Georgian Dream coalition does not vote for it, then parliament will continue the process of overriding the president’s veto and pushing through the first version of the law, which will take a 3/5 majority.